Review: Pestilence

“Last night I could not decide which you were—a tonic or a toxin,” he says. “Today I’ve discovered you’re both.”

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis

They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed.

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him.

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she’ll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

The Verdict

Color me surprised, this was actually super cute! I’ve been in the mood for an intense/lust filled enemies to lovers story for a while now, so what better way to fulfill that than a god-like figure plaguing the world and a human on a mission to kill him? It doesn’t get much more “enemy-like” than that!

I have to say, I’ve read a lot of books but I don’t think I’ve ever read an apocalypse-themed book before. That was certainly a nice touch and I think it worked really great for this story. I thought (based off the cover) that was going to be a story that takes place in the past, but I was wrong. This actually takes place in the modern day and age, four years after the horseman mysteriously came to Earth and were “hibernating” for lack of a better term. The story starts with our MC, Sara, drawing the short end of a stick (literally) and having to stay behind and kill Pestilence, who is riding his horse across the globe, spreading the plague, and killing everything in his path. Except Sara doesn’t know one thing, and that is that Pestilence can’t be killed. So after a very botched attempt of trying to kill the horseman, Sara is taken prisoner and forced to ride with Pestilence as he continues to end the world.

One thing I would like to add, some people may find Pestilence’s punishment, descriptions of injuries/the plague a little gruesome to read if you find yourself more on the squeamish side. Think bones, burns, and lots and lots of boils. You’ve been warned. Also, this does get a lot more philosophical about religion, humanity, and immortality than I ever imagined, which was actually kind of nice.

The most pleasant surprise about this book is how soft of a person Pestilence is. Keep in mind he’s not from this world, so he doesn’t understand the basic principles of eating, sleeping, drinking, using the bathroom, sarcasm, and obviously loving someone. All Pestilence knows is that he needs to spread the plague and put an end to humanity. Which means that you get some laugh out loud moments when Pestilence is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and what his feelings mean.

The sex scenes were nothing spectacular, I was hoping they would have been a little more hot and heavy (sorry Mom, if you’re reading this) since this book is the epitome of enemies to lovers. But I think the amount shared and described went well with the story, because again, Pestilence is a very soft man, god-like figure, person, or whatever else you want to call him. Like, I can’t emphasis enough how soft he is. At times when other people were trying to hurt him I just wanted to yell “HE’S JUST TRYING TO DO HIS JOB, HE DOESN’T KNOW ANY BETTER!!”, even if his job is ending the world.

Favorite Quotes

“Show him what we shine with. Show him humanity is worthy of redemption”

“I came to conquer this land and its people, but instead, one of its people conquered me.”

“Ah America,” Pestilence says with distaste, dragging me back to the present. “Here they are made particularly mean.”

^ WHERE’S THE LIE THOUGH?!?!

Now I won’t spoil the end, but just know I was pleased with it and you best believe I am ready for the next book! All in all, if you’re looking for an easy, lust-y, enemies to lovers book with a soft boy and a compassionate yet badass female MC, than look no further. There’s a new man in town and his name is Pestilence (I’m literally laughing so hard as I’m typing this because it’s such a god awful name).

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12 thoughts on “Review: Pestilence”

I love this review! I’m even more excited to read this now. I bought it on my kindle last month but haven’t gotten to it yet and every time I see the cover I’m tempted to drop everything and read it. I don’t know why, sometimes I just have those books where I just KNOW I’m going to have so much fun reading it and this is one of those! Also I love what you said about him not getting sarcasm and stuff – it sounds like he’s kind of similar to Rook from An Enchantment of Ravens in that way, maybe? And Rook is my smol cinnamon roll baby forever so ♥♥♥

Thank you! I was the same way haha, I kept seeing it and it was just one of those books that was always in the back of my mind. Plus the cover is soooo pretty. I hope you love it! And yes, definitely similar to Rook. It was funny yet so endearing reading about Pestilence trying to navigate all the human emotions. Can’t wait to see what you think of this one!

I am glad you enjoyed it! I was very conflicted about this book; I am not a fan of abusive enemies to lovers/Stockholm Syndrome so the romance – while steamy – also bothered me. But I enjoyed the plot and the book overall. Great review!

Thank you, and those are totally valid points for being conflicted! I was definitely shocked in the very beginning also, I wasn’t expecting it to be as graphic as it was. But I’m glad you were able to enjoy it for the most part 😊

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